The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-08-06
IN THE AsToR LIBRARY.
New York Mail.

AetoI AofdTS "Out II you put cOm- mon report to the test of personal ob- servation, you will find that at least
 those feminine readers who come here find interest in something besides love stories"
 "Take, for instance, those ladies at the other end of the room who are boring over books and taking notes so extensively. Shall I tell you the names of some of the books they called for this morning? We'll, do
 you see that pretty little creature at
 the lower end of the table-the blonde with the helpless, appealing air? You are sure she is reading one of Bertha
 NJ. Clay's lovesick romances. She is not, though. Those three volumes open near her and so profusely adorned with slips of paper could hardly be called light reading. The book di- rectly beneath her eyes is Adam Smiths Wealth of Nations the one
 to her right is Sir Thomas Moore's Utopia; or, The State of Happy Republic,' and the small volume con tains John Stuart Milrs Essay on Liberty"
 Just at that moment, when the girl seemed more than ordinarily puzzled over some economic problem, and when her little hands were clasped as if to concentrate thought, young man came slowly up the stairs, walked over to the catalogue desk and com- menced turning over the cards. She glanced at him, look of recognition came into her eyes, and her clasped hands-aye, those hands that had erst- while been clinching economic puzzles in unison with her mind-flew to her bangs. Yes, the bank of England was forgotten in the all important consid- eration: "How are my bangs?" Ye gods What descent from the up- per air of philosophy to earthly van ity! It must be remarked that a woman is but woman after all.
 Do you see that stately girl, with brown, flashing eyes?" continued the library man.
 "You may judge from the archi- tectural and mechanical illustrations on its open pages that the books which claim her attention are scien- tific ones. At her elbow are several large sheets of paper and box of drawing instruments. She is a regu- lar visitor to the library, coming in at ten in the morning and generally stay ing until four in the afternoon. More over, she is one of those people of one book whom Cicero feared. For nearly six months she has been handling every morning the same work.
 "That youngest old girl to the left of this female scientist-the one with the fiaxen hair and the hard. deter mined look-is reading portly vol ume of Travels in the East.' The meek little woman, with diminutiye. pale features, is absorbed in an illus trated art work; and the tall, raw boned lady back of her is boring over a veterinary surgeons book on the treatment of cattle. She is, I think. the horse and COW reporter of some newspaper.
 "lt does not appear, then, that women are given to such frivolous reading after all?" remarked the writer
 "Not the women who come here. Those who patronize the circulating libraries generally call for novels. I think, but the women who come to the. 'Astor' are chiefly students in some branch of science or art. They can get here any book of reference they desire, to assist them in their studies, and tables are especially pro- vided for them so that they may take notes. It has been said that women have not the necessary constancy of purpose to pursue course of study by themselves. My observations have convinced me that this is not the case. There are many of them who read the same books here for five hours every 1ay-books, too, which most men would find dry.
 Nearly all the women you see here today are what we call 'regulars,' that is, they are daily visitors; have their regular seats and get their books with out the formality of making applica- tions, since we know just what they want. There is one notable difference between them and the masculine read CTS in the next room. When lunch hour arrives the men can be seen filing put in numbers, while the women do not usually move till near the end of library hours. They certainly thrive better on mental lunches than men do.
 "One thing, however, no woman reader has ever, to my knowledge. been able to do, and that is to refrain rom looking up when any one enters. The fair ones can work hard and fast from ten in the morning to four in the afternoon, but they cannot attain to such heights of pnilosophic abstrac- 'ion as to keep their eyes on their books when a new bonnet is gliding